Summary

Reward learning represents a crucial mechanism in the acquisition and maintenance of addictive behavior. The underlying neurobiological foundations and associated neurobiological pathways are identified in this review and similarities between substance abuse and behavioral addictions will be discussed. In the second section current neuroimaging findings on neurobiological mechanisms of pathological gambling and computer and internet addiction are discussed. The main focuses are on changes in neurocognitive processes, such as cue reactivity, reward and punishment processing and behavioral control.

Potenza MN (2008) The neurobiology of pathological gambling and drug addiction: an overview and new findings. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B. Biol Sci 363:3181–3189CrossRef